Finally got a chance to fire the new motor up yesterday after finding my first day off in the past month (read: quit my job) :\ It ran, horribly, sounded like it was missing, not quite firing on all 4, tracked that problem down to a faulty spark plug wire, fixed that and attempted to fire her up again, the distro was adjusted all the way out so we decided to make sure it was at TDC, and restab the disto, which seemed to be WAY off. Put her back on #1 dropped it in but now it won't start <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> Cranks and cranks and backfires through the carb! Compression tested it and got 175-160-185-115. I've now pulled the valve cover off and am gettin down to adjusting the valves a little better, hoping that that'll take care of my compression problems. My biggest worry now though is when I pulled the valve cover off it looked like the cam was 180* off with the crank timing mark at 0* I rotated the crank 180* and the cam now looks to be in time, I thought I was at TDC before pulling the valve cover but it was late. I'm just praying that I didn't mangle any valves here, I did have some trouble lining the cam and crank up when the long block was going together, pretty sure it was all lined up correctly. A couple of main questions, is it possible that I have the cam in 180* upside down? I wouldn't think it'd even run that way :\ Second, when the crank is at 0* should the reference mark on the cam itself be right on top? see the first 2 pics mine is not cocked a little to the drivers side. Also could anyone tell me if the valves look okay for being at TDC? (3ed pic) Thanks a lot guys, this is my daily driver and the good will from my buddy is about to run out, I've been drivin' his car for a while <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/angry.gif" alt="" />

The distributor is 180* out... When you re-stabbed it, you were at TDC for the crank, but not the cam.

The crank turns 2 times for every 1 cam revolution...

Thank you sir!

Hope Germany's treatin' ya well

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />

Another thing to look at is the crank at TDC, cam pin should be 1200, not that reference mark you show. That will move the timing. The distributor should go in and the elongated hole for adjusting should have the bolt fairly in the middle of the adjustment.
Try that
Danny

Surprised that no one has keyed on the compression numbers you have. The 115 tells me you have a 1. bad head gasket 2. bad valve. 3. cracked head. Bad valve will give you pop back thru the intake if it is an intake valve...will give you exhaust farts if the exhaust.

New motor, may just be valve adjustment. Good call for an older been run motor <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

That's what I'm prayin' for! adjusted the valves and moved the cam back a bit, got her timed up and it runs like a champ now! Gonna put some miles on it and give those valves another look after those rings seat I'll hit it with the compression gauge again. Thanks a lot guys!